I took the new Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM out for a spin today in the hope of finding a suitable composition for the March "On Assignment" competition. No luck, as it turned out, but I thought that from a technical viewpoint the following image might be of interest to anyone contemplating this lens.

Clickable for a spot of pixel peeping (5.7 MB)

Camera Model = Canon EOS 40D

ISO Speed Ratings = 100

Shutter Speed (Exposure Time) = 1/128 second

Focal Length = 16 mm

Lens F-Number = f/11

Only post-processing was a light crop off the bottom (as you do!)

Would have been better compositionally, in my opinion, without the strong shadows in the foreground. No real focus of interest either but, hey, I'm into leafless trees so be gentle! For a while I wondered why I had tilted the camera but looking at the horizon I hadn't. The church is on the top of a hill (they knew a thing or two about avoiding disease-ridden valleys back in the 12th century) so I guess tilted gravestones and a windblown tree are to blame.

Anyway, the lens is the star here and I'm looking forward to much fun with it. Even though I used f/11 to maximise depth of field there is little sign of softening from diffraction. Great contrast too and, from a shot taken earlier in the day, I also know that this lens controls flare from the sun very well. I don't think I'll be asking for my money back just yet.

Some nice fluffy bits in a clear blue sky together with a few fields of Winter Rape prompted some photographic activity this morning during a three hour walk with the dogs.

Camera Model = Canon EOS 40D

ISO Speed Ratings = 100

Original Date/Time = 2008:05:20 08:16:23

Shutter Speed (Exposure Time) = 1/160 second

Aperture = F8

Focal Length = 16/1 mm = 16 mm

Camera Model = Canon EOS 40D

ISO Speed Ratings = 100

Original Date/Time = 2008:05:20 09:02:14

Shutter Speed (Exposure Time) = 1/60 second

Aperture = F11

Focal Length = 16/1 mm = 16 mm

I'd like to say that I spent ages working out depth of field and hyperfocal distances but apart from tweaking the f-number I let the camera select the focus points and do it's own thing. Post-processing was applied to both images, both of which are uncropped, but the only action which would affect evaluation of lens quality was 10% sharpening applied by Photoshop CS2. The first image shows the effect a circular polariser can have on the sky: the blues were not affected by post-processing.

hi Bob,
You certainly have a beautful collection of lenses there. I came that close to going Canon when replacing my film cameras( I had an A1 T70 and T90). I always thought the yellow from rape seed makes a lovely colour combination with the sky blue-- really nice shots there.
regards GCJ.

I had the opportunity today to roughly recreate the opening shot of this thread, same lens but on the full-frame 5D MkII as opposed to the 40D. Not an exact duplicate but here's a shot at 23mm, f/8, ISO 100, 1/40th of a second, and slightly cropped. All images are "clickable" for a spot of pixel-peeping should you so desire.

Clickable for the full-sized version - 11.7MB

Next up the 16mm focal length shot (same settings and same camera position but I cloned out a few branches from the top left corner so anything you see there is no fault of the lens!):

Clickable for the full-sized version - 13MB

Finally, a shot taken from just a few feet further back but this time in landscape mode. Again at 16mm, f/8, ISO 100, 1/40th of a second.

Clickable for the full-sized version - 12.5MB

This one is uncropped and illustrates that, while the image is sharp in the center, even at f/8 there is a little softness at the edges. Maybe I could have tweaked the focus slightly to improve the edges but I didn't spot the problem until I got home. This shot also nicely illustrates the perils of using a polarising filter with these extreme wide-angle views, and bear in mind that this shot includes a little post-processing to try and reduce the effect!

All shots were taken with a polarising filter in place on a standard (not slim-line) mounting with the camera mounted on a tripod, mirror lock-up enabled and a cable release used. DPP was used to do default vignetting and chromatic aberration correction and then the images were exported as 16 bit TIFF files for post-processing in Adobe Camera Raw / Photoshop CS4.

This is the first time I've shot with an "ultra-wide" field of view as I would have needed the EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-4.5 USM on my 40D to achieve the same effect. It's amazing to me how the change in perspective opens up new possibilities. Probably not a focal length I'd want to over-use but 16mm on a full-frame body is definitely fun.

I personally think your pictues are rather nice! Although for my personal taste the images look rather to sharp, and i am not sure if it is just this monitor, but the pictures from the 5D Mk II's images look 'digital'!
Anyway thanks for sharing, looks like a superb lens!